Unleashing a running attack that tore up 462 yards of real estate, the Lena-STAA Titans kept their slim playoff hopes alive with a high scoring 35-30 win over Wausaukee Friday night.

The victory improves the Titans to 3-3 in the M-O Conference, which includes a crossover game forfeit win over Three Lakes from earlier in the season. Lena-STAA must upset league leading Suring this week to make its way into the post-season.

Leading the explosive Titan ground attack was junior halfback Kiefer Powers with 225 yards and 4 touchdowns. Lena-STAA added more balance as Dom Ramirez slipped through the Ranger defense for 161 yards and a score.

Elsewhere on the M-O gridirons, the Crivitz Wolverines used a late field goal by Joe Rodriguez to slip past Coleman 17-14 while Gillett notched its first victory of the season with a 35-6 crossover verdict against Menominee Indian.

The final round of league play is slated for Friday, October 12 with Suring entertaining Lena-STAA, Gillett heading to Peshtigo, Crivitz taking the hike to Wausaukee and Coleman hosting Laona-Wabeno in a crossover clash.

Powers, Titans Too

Much For Wausaukee

If you like offense, this was the game to be at as Lena-STAA outlasted visiting Wausaukee 35-30.

While the offenses flourished, the defenses barely put up a fight, and left battered and bruised. And for good reason. The teams combined for 769 yards, ran 116 plays and scored 65 points.

Powers put together a career performance with 24 carries for 225 yards and 4 touchdowns. The quick stepping Powers made his way to the end zone on scampers of 4, 21, 4 and 23 yards.

Powers wasnt the only Titan back to run through some huge openings in the Wausaukee defense as Ramirez added 25 rushes for 161 yards and a score while Roy OHarrow netted 63 yards on 9 carries.

Really proud of the way we have been playing lately. We got things going against Gillett, played a good game against Coleman and we were able to put almost a full game together against Wausaukee. We needed this win to keep our playoff hopes alive, Lena-STAA coach Dale Lange said.

Wausaukee also enjoyed a big game offensively with 307 yards and of course, those 30 points. Russell Smith was the top ground gainer with 13 rushes for 69 yards while quarterback Beau DeLaet connected on 13 of 25 passes for 123 yards and two touchdowns. DeLaet hit Ryan Nystrom from 9 yards out then added a 17 yard scoring strike to Aaron Schlies.

Meanwhile Nystrom was a triple threat for the Rangers with 7 receptions for 62 yards, one run for 46 yards and a teedee while throwing a 31 yard touchdown pass to Schlies.

After forcing Wausaukee to punt on its first possession, the Titans drove 75 yards in 6 plays. Powers ripped off 53 yards on a third down run to the 12 then scooted into the end zone from 4 yards out (5:13). Blaik Fisher booted the PAT for a 7-0 lead.

The Rangers didnt stay in arrears very long, gaining an 8-7 edge less than a minute later. On first down from their own 33, Wausaukee saw Smith break loose for a 21 yard gain to the 46. Nystrom took it from there hitting paydirt on the next play. DeLaet ran in the conversion to put the Rangers on top.

Lena-STAA regained the upper hand on the ensuing possession with a 7 play, 53 yard scoring drive. Powers scooted 12 yards to open the march then closed things out with a 21 yard dash to the end zone (1:21). The conversion run by Ramirez was denied for a 13-8 spread.

The see-saw affair continued as Wausaukee drove 65 yards in 11 plays for a 16-13 lead (9:06). DeLaet hooked up with Nystrom for 23 yards to the 25 before capping the march with a 9 yard flip to his senior tight end. DeLaet added the conversion points.

An 8 play march saw the Titans move 80 yards to pry open a 19-16 edge. Powers raced 31 yards to the Ranger 45, added an 11 yard gain to the 34 before finding the end zone on a 4 yard scamper. A pass for the conversion by Ramirez fell incomplete.

Wausaukee continued to rely on the pass and opened up a 24-19 halftime spread with a 62 yard scoring drive. The Rangers needed 6 plays to cover the distance as DeLaet hit Nystrom for 6 yards then ran for 11 to the 45. Points came on a little razzle-dazzle with Nystrom firing a 31 yard pass off a reverse to Schlies (4:28). DeLaet connected with Nystrom for the conversion and that 5 point spread.

Getting the ball to open the second half, Lena-STAA marched 65 yards in 8 plays to go up 27-24. Powers carried three times for gains of 4, 12 and 23 yards for points. Powers also tacked on the conversion run.

Following an exchange of punts, the Titans got great field position when Ramirez returned a boot 22 yards to the Ranger 23. Four plays later the Titans upped the lead to 35-24 as Ramirez bolted in from 5 yards out with 4:34 remaining in the game and added the conversion run.

With the game slipping away, Wausaukee answered in a big way with an 11 play, 70 yard drive. A pass interference penalty put the Rangers at the Lena-STAA 49, Nystrom caught an 8 yard toss to the 37 while DeLaet scrambled for a first down at the 27. A fourth down holding penalty on the Titans moved the ball to the 17, where DeLaet spotted Schlies for the score (1:54). On the conversion pass, DeLaet missed connecting with Nystrom for the 35-30 deficit.

Trying to run out the clock, the Titans saw a couple of penalties hinder a game ending drive and were forced to punt at the 50. Bad move as Pete Krause blocked the boot with the Rangers taking over just 29 yards from the end zone.

With only 38 ticks left on the clock, DeLaet went to the air 4 times and come up empty on each toss to give the ball back to Lena-STAA.

We were able to get several of our running backs involved. When they keyed on Dom then we went to Kiefer and when they started keying him, we ran with Roy OHarrow or Blaik Fischer. Wausaukee has a very good passing attack and both of us were able to move the ball, Lange concluded.

Crivitz Clips Coleman

On Late Field Goal By

Rodriguez For 17-14 Win

It would have been easy for the Wolverines to fall apart after a big play from Colemans Dexter Karban went for 80 yards and a score early on in Friday home game against the Cougars.

But the Wolverines were not going to be denied victory. Not with the opportunity to even their M-O record at 3-3 on the line.

Crivitz responded to the first quarter score with a pair of passing touchdowns in the second frame and went on to win the game by a narrow 17-14 margin. The winning margin came compliments of kicker Joe Rodriquez, who booted a 28 yard field goal with 0:27 seconds left.

The statistic sheet for this game shows the two teams were closely matched in most categories. Both teams tallied 15 first downs; Coleman had a 295-yard total on the ground thanks to the 80-yard haul from Karban compared to 196 for the Wolverines; Crivitz averaged 4.8 yards per play on 61 plays for 295 total while the Cougars averaged six yards per play on 258 total yards over 43 plays.

For Coleman, three fumbles and a non-existent passing game proved to be their undoing.

The outcome was disappointing, said Cougars head coach Jeff Bronson. We kept fighting to keep the lead but we couldnt seem to get out of our own way. Credit Crivitz for causing the turnovers, we had more than enough chances to tie or take the lead in the game.

Crivitz quarterback Alec Garcia, meanwhile, had a solid game with a six for 14 passing mark for an even 100 yards and two touchdowns. His first scoring pass came from three yards out and it went to Cody Wolf, his second scoring strike of the game was from 39 out to Parker DeLosSantos, who finished the game with 97 yards on five receptions to lead the Crivitz receivers.

On the ground, Ben Fischer led the way for the Wolverines with 97 yards on 16 attempts for a 6.1 per carry average; Jed Nelson added 44 yards on seven carries for a 6.3 average and Jake Sawinski tallied 38 yards on eight carries for a 4.8 average.

For Coleman, Karban finished with an impressive 141 yards on 15 carries for a 9.4 yards per carry average; Mason Mergener ran it 11 times for 83 yards at 7.5 per carry and Marc Lansin chipped in 36 yards on seven carries for an average of 5.1 a carry.

I was pleased how hard the team played in the second half, I need to do a better job to get them in a position to win, commented Bronson after the loss. Well keep working and pushing the team to get better. We still have a chance for the playoffs.

Noffke Runs For 164

Yards, 3 Teedees As

Gillett Wins 1st Game

The Gillett Tigers had a lot of factors working in their favor Friday night as Menominee Indian came to town for a crossover contest between the Northern Lakes and M-O on homecoming and senior night.

Gillett offensive standout Monte Noffke was back in the fold after a three-week absence due to a concussion suffered earlier in the season. And they were playing a squad that was also sporting an 0-4 record coming into the game.

Given the circumstances, anything less than a win would have, of course, been quite a disappointment.

The Tigers didnt just win, they won big to pick up their first victory of the 2012 campaign by way of a 35-6 drubbing of Menominee Indian.

It was a huge win for our seniors and our young kids, said Gillett had coach Rick Kamps. It was a huge lift for us to finally get Monte Noffke back after three weeks. We were also able to control the line of scrimmage.

The aftermath of the Noffke lift: 23 carries for 164 yards, three touchdowns, three receptions for 36 yards and 43 yards worth of work returning kicks.

It would appear that three weeks of being sidelined due to injury fired up Noffke sufficiently for this one.

But he wasnt the only Gillett player contributing to the offensive onslaught. As a matter of fact, Noffke didnt breach the end zone for his first score of the night until the third quarter.

Brett Milhans scored on the ground from eight yards out midway through the first quarter and then Dylan Roberts scored on a 17-yard pass play from quarterback Alex Zeitler (eight for 17, 58 yards, TD, INT) just before time ran out on the first half to get Gillett out front comfortably 13-0.

Noffke took over in the third, scoring two quick touchdowns, a 10-yard run followed by a dash from 15 yards out to put the game out of reach with well over a quarter of football left to play.

Noffke capped the evenings scoring only a couple of minutes into the fourth with a three-yard run.

The statistics are as lopsided as the score would suggest, with Gillett leading in nearly all categories. The Tigers picked up 20 first downs, the Eagles had six. Total yards had Gillett up 277 to 91. The Tigers racked up a total of 219 yards with their rushing game while their defense roughed up Menominee Indian to the tune of a minus 13 yards. The only stat of note where the Eagles found an advantage was in the passing game where they picked up 104 yards on 24 plays through the air.